Victor Wembanyama Fined For Ball Toss After Win over New York Knicks
Call it anything but a free throw.
The NBA announced on Sunday that Victor Wembanyama is charged with a $25,000 fine for throwing the game ball from Friday's 130-126 victory over the New York Knicks into the seating areas at Frost Bank Center. It's the first time Wembanyama, the French freshman phenom, has been fined in his NBA career.
Wembanyama certainly had reasons to be euphoric on Friday: with a 40-point, 20-rebound performance, the top pick from last summer's draft became the first rookie to reach those landmark in a single game since Orlando's Shaquille O'Neal in 1993. San Antonio's upset overtime win over the Knicks also marked the first time it has won three games in a row this season.
Some observers viewed Wembanyama's costly fling as an attempt to keep the ball away from Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson, who put up a career-best 61 points in defeat. Postgame possession of game balls has been a subtle subplot of this year's NBA season.
Extracirriculars erupted between the Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks in December when the latter sought the ball to commemorate Giannis Antetokounmpo's 64-point game. The Pacers claimed to have acquired the ball as a keepsake for rookie Oscar Tshiebwe, who had scored his first NBA point that night. A few nights later, Knicks star Julius Randle made a point of protecting the ball from another Brunson showcase, when he built a 50-point performance on a 9-of-9 mark from three-point range in a New York win in Phoenix.
GEOFF MAGLIOCCHETTI
Editor-In-Chief at All Knicks